Chapter 12

The date with Mo Cheng had ended on a pleasant note. After the dinner, they'd spent about half-an-hour walking through a large park in the shopping district, talking about a myriad of things and getting to know each other. Sun Fang had thoroughly enjoyed the sunset on the way home, the light peeking in through the car's windows.

He thought the date had gone pretty well. It had certainly ended on a better note than most of his dates (not that he'd gone on many when engaged, certainly not, he wouldn't ever do that to his inconsiderate, cheating fiancé—he's most definitely a pure, harmless flower). On the drive back to his apartment, Sun Fang fingered the phone, wondering what would happen from here on out. They'd exchanged numbers and Mo Cheng had said he would call.

If he did, they might go on more dates. Sun Fang already knew of a couple of locations in the city that he thought would make fine dating spots—an amusement park, a waterpark, a zoo. In fact, even if Mo Cheng never contacted him again, Sun Fang fully intended to visit these places.

His butler dropped him off at the apartment and drove off to safely put away the car. Sun Fang took the elevator up to his floor and sauntered over to his front door, feeling lazy. He waved his hand over the biometric lock and the door opened, letting him in without issue. It closed automatically behind him, locking silently.

He whistled as he walked through the hallway to the first bathroom. There, he did his business at the toilet and then pulled his clothes off, stepping into the shower. Steaming water immediately fell over him and he leaned his head back under the on-fall. For a moment, he only stood there, letting the water slide down his body and warm his muscles. Then he grabbed the soap and got started, taking far more time than was necessary. It wasn't his fault that the shower was so satisfying.

When he stepped out, his butler was waiting for him with fresh clothes. A pair of sweatpants and a loose, old ratted shirt—his brother would throw a fit if he ever saw him wearing this. Sun Yi had the hilarious impression that Sun Fang thought himself too good to ever dress in old, comfortable clothes.

"Thank you," Sun Fang said and accepted the pile.

His butler nodded and walked away. Sun Fang looked after him, amused, but didn't say anything. He did wonder why his butler had been so insistent on getting him out of the apartment, but he assumed that it would tell him when it felt like it. Until then, Sun Fang would simply wait.

The living room was just as he left it, if slightly cleaner, when he entered. Sun Fang made a beeline straight for the couch and sat himself down on it in the corner of the large furniture. The red fabric was soft below him and he curled up in his seat, pulling his legs up under him. He waved his hand carelessly, a word that might be mistaken as "on" leaving him, and the TV sparked to life. It turned on to the same channel he'd last watched.

Sun Fang spent a couple minutes watching the news before he got bored and switched the channel. Terrorist attack, terrorist attack, another reportage on the war efforts against the Zerg (another planet was conquered by Sun Fang's dear former fiancé) something about a new mecha in development, whatever. It was always the same business, and after having lived his whole life with that stuff, Sun Fang had long-since stopped caring. The human race had been at war with the Zerg for literal millennia; nobody much cared about it anymore.

They had been fighting for the same four solar systems for centuries, losing and regaining territory so often that it was all par for the course. Nobody was very surprised when territory was lost, and nobody was very happy when it was regained—because it'd be lost again soon enough. Moreover, the war was so far removed from most people and such a normal part of everyone's lives, that it really had just... become another facet of life. Besides, nobody even lived in those systems anymore, and really, at this point, what was the war even about?

The soldiers fighting the Zerg were in one sense heroes, but they were heroes in the same way firefighters were heroes. Not like when the war had first started millennia ago, when the soldiers and their ancient mecha had been the last line of defense.

Sun Fang finally settled on a channel showing idol dramas. The school youth drama that was airing wasn't particularly eye-catching and didn't really stand out amongst the many other school dramas he'd seen, but the cinematography was clean and the actors passably good. They were good-looking too, and had decent chemistry with each other.

He sank into the couch, all his strength leaving him as he relaxed. Half-way through the episode, a bowl of popcorn and a bottle of soda was placed on the coffee table in front of him. Sun Fang absentmindedly thanked his butler, his eyes still glued to the large screen.

On the screen, somebody revealed their tragic backstory. Sun Fang found his eyes watering a little; though the backstory was nearly unbearably cliché, the actor was pretty enough and good enough at portraying sadness that his emotions were infectious. Sun Fang imagined that he had a fabulous future waiting for him as an actor.

When the popcorn was gone and the soda had been depleted, Sun Fang yawned. He was still watching the same drama series (it seemed like they were doing a marathon airing), his eyelids drooping as exhaustion took over. He curled deeper against the couch, pulling the blanket that had at some point been dropped on top of him up to his chin. Yawning again, Sun Fang let the sounds and sights from the screen wash over him as he slowly started nodding off.